BTH, NFU
Master program Urban Design in China & Europe FM2514 Urban design diploma work
Fredrik Bergqvist Tutors:
Rolf Möller, Yun-feng Yang
THE FUTURE OF JIAGANG CUN
- development of an Urban village in Nanjing
Abstract
Chinese cities have since the economic reforms were implemented in the end of the 70s faced a big inflow of migrants, seeking a better life, offered by the cities in terms of jobs, and higher income. Many of these migrants have found their housing provided in old rural villages that now have become encircled by the cities and become urban villages. The urban villages offer the migrants a cheap accommodation, but they often lack proper infrastructure, service and public space and have social problems. In some villages some of the farmland has been kept, and is now used for urban agriculture.
Urban agriculture is important for a big part of the urban poor in the cities today, providing them with the basic need of food, or as a source of income. The problem is that urban agriculture often is neglected by planners and city governments which create problems for those who depend on it.
The chosen area for the study is an urban village in Nanjing, Jiagang Cun. It is proposed to be redeveloped as a new commercial area. In the village, urban agriculture is practised by the villagers. In the proposed plan from Nanjing Planning Bureau the village and the urban agriculture are not kept. When the urban villages gets demolished to give room for further expansion of the cities, the villagers old social structures gets demolished at the same time as the village.
The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the application of theories of urban agriculture and urban villages in a local community by ways of an urban design proposal. The question addressed in the thesis is “What would the villagers in Jiagang Cun gain in terms of their social situation by an alternative plan based on the current situation in the village vs. proposed plans and functions over the area made by Nanjing Planning Bureau?” To do this a thematic literature review has been conducted of the topics of urban villages and urban agriculture and a case study of Jiagang Cun. Due, to the fact that it was not possible to establish any contact with the Nanjing Planning Bureau the intentions and reasons behind the proposed plan over Jiagang Cun is unknown.
The result in the thesis is that the villagers social situation would be improved by adopting an alternative design proposal based on the theories of urban agriculture and urban agriculture vs. the proposed plans and functions suggested by the Nanjing Planning Bureau.
Key words: Urban agriculture, urban villages, social sustainability, migrants, urbanisation
Acknowledgement
During my two years in the Master of Science Programme in Spatial Planning with an emphasis on Urban Design in China and Europe at Blekinge Institute of Technology and Nanjing Forestry University I have been in contact with many teachers that have inspired me and given me a great amount of knowledge. During the programme I have meet other students that have become very close friends, and that have made this thesis possible. I have during my time in Sweden and in China learned about the differences in culture that is between European and Chinese planning and urban design, and that we have much to learn from each other.
I would like to express my thanks to following persons for helping me with this thesis:
Rolf Möller, my tutor in Sweden that helped me when I was struggling with my thesis and came with good advises.
Yun-feng Yang my tutor at Nanjing Forestry University, which helped me with the research and supported me.
Zengpei Yu, a student at Nanjing Forestry University that spent much time translating documents for me and also sacrificed days visiting urban villages in Nanjing, without her I would never have been able to come in contact with the people living in these villages.
Agnese Madžule-Bajāre and Christian Bruce, that have been a big support during the whole time of the thesis work, even though they have been writing their thesis at the same time.
Sven Bergqvist, my father that have helped me with spelling and grammar.
Fredrik Brorsson, my old friend that during the whole time, working with this thesis been a big moral support and helped me a lot to reach the goal. For all help and moral support I am most grateful.
b) What is urban agriculture?
Where does it take place?
Who are the producers?
Urban Agricultures effects on society at large Subsistence farming
Who are the consumers?
What is the problem?
How can Urban Agriculture be integrated into city development?
Diffrent types of Urban Agriculture
Voices from urban villages in Nanjing The Case study
Inventory
Future plans for Jiagang Cun by Nanjing Planning Bureau
Analysis of Jiagang Cun Problems
Conclusions drawn from Jiagang Cun
Design Concept
Result/ Design proposal
Comparison, Conclusion & Discussion Referenses
Table of Content
Abstarct
Acknowledgement Introduction
The Growing Cities Urban Villages Urban Agriculture
The impact on people Nanjing
Jiagang Cun Problem statement Possibilites
Aim
Delimitation Reaserch Question
Theory & Method
Theory Method
Background
The houku system
Urbanization in China since the 1950s Planning in China today
Literature Review
a) Urban Villages
The structure of urban villages Problems with urban villages
2 3 5
6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 1011
11 1112
13 13 1517
18 20 2022 22 23 23 24 25 25 25 27
30 36
37 50 52 52 5253
57
67
72
INTRODUCTION
along the inner streets, creating a mixed use area, though there is normally a lack of public space. Utilities as proper sewer system, collection of garbage and other infrastructure is not common in the urban villages. Garbage is spread out everywhere and waste water is not properly taken care of. The urban villages also suffer from problems with high crime rates, security, bad air quality and low quality built houses. Though many problems the urban villages also give landless farmers and migrants a chance to make a living in the cities, and have shown on an alternative way to urban development where instead of a design process from the top to down it is process from the bottom and up (Yuting Liu, 2010).
Introduction
The Growing Cities
Urban Villages
The economic reforms that was implemented from the end of the1970s has created a big gap between the rural areas and the urban areas in China, and between the east costal parts and the inland. This has created one of the biggest migration movements ever seen in history. Proximately 225 million peasants have left their homes to seek a better life in the cities. The development of Chinese cities have been, and still is possible in some extend just because of the migrants that are working in the building- service- and manufacturing industry (Campanella, 2008). The demand of housing for these migrants has in many cities been satisfied by old rural villages that have been surrounded by the sprawling metropolis, in Chinese called “Chengzhongcun” and in English “Urban villages”.
The urban villages are created by the residence of the villages that have lost their income when their farmland became urbanized. The villagers saw the potential in the big demand of affordable housing for migrants and started to let out their houses. In this way they found a new way to make a living and the migrants got an opportunity to rent accommodation to a price that was in level with their income (Pu Hao, 2011). The buildings within the urban villages can be all from two to eight floors placed very dense, creating small narrow streets and alleys.
Some villages have still some farmland left that is farmed by the villagers. It’s very common that shops and other businesses get established in the bottom floors
Source: http://skyscraper.talkwhat.com/view/QgAEmNzRyiCoqYezRy.html
An urban village in Guangzhou.
All since the Chinese government implemented economic reforms in the end of the 1970s the Chinese cities have grown in a vast speed and scale, leading to a rapid transformation of the Chinese landscape and urban sprawl. The Chinese cities expansion has in many cases been on the expense of farmland. During the period between 1980 and 2004 approximately 114000 km2 of farmland was transformed to urban land. In 1980 19.6 % of the Chinese population lived in the cities (Yan Song, 2012), today that number has increased to 47% (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012).
Introduction
As the urban villages have made it possible for migrant workers to afford to live in the cities, urban agriculture is a way for economically weak groups to feed themselves, and creates a possibility for them to improve their income and lives by selling the surplus (Mougeot L. J., 2006). With the urbanisation the poverty in the world moves from the rural areas in to the cities (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
Urban Agriculture is agricultural activities that take place within the borders of an urban area and can take several different shapes and be conducted by all form poor groups to bigger entrepreneurs (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001). As mentioned above, China has lost 114000 km2 of farmland (Campanella, 2008) due to urban expansion, at the same time the country’s population is increasing. This is one of the reasons why China for the first time in history now has to import agricultural products.
Urban agriculture can have good impacts on cities by helping improving air quality, treat garbage and waste water, cut down the emissions produced by transporting food into the cities, reduce the effects of natural disasters, improve the micro climate and make cities greener.
In developed countries urban agriculture is often seen as something recreational.
The problem is that officials and planners often do not see urban agriculture as something suitable for cities, and in many cities it’s forbidden or impossible to implement because of legislation or bye-laws (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001). Often conducted by weak groups in the cities they have problems making their voice heard. The biggest threat against urban agriculture is growing cities (C. Aubry, 2012).
Urban Agriculture
All rural villages do not become urban villages as the cities encircle them, many will be totally demolished and replaced. This is also the case for old areas in the cities that undergoes renewal projects. The residents of these areas is normally given three choices; buy an apartment in the buildings that replace their homes, with an discount or get a onetime payment for their old home or move to an new area that is provided by the developer (Campanella, 2008). Though the first option is only possible to get if the area is rebuilt as a residential area. But it is only those that have the legal right to live in the city that are offered a new accommodation, often in a different part of the city.If they don’t have the legal right, due to their houku status ( the houku system is explained in the “Background” chapter) to live in the village they become homeless. Of those who move or get provided with new apartments often find themselves in a situation where they can’t live the life they were used to. Social structures and long- standing family bands rarely survives the relocation. The feeling of security and coherence, that in many cases was strong in the old neighbourhoods get lost in the relocation (Campanella, 2008).
The impact on people
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Demolishment of Jiangnancun, a rural village south of Nanjing to make room for new development.
Introduction
Nanjing
Nanjing is the province capital of Jiangsu province situated along the Yangtze River. Nanjing has been inhabited for thousands of years, but the city was founded in the 14th century by the Ming dynasty. The city has been the capital of China during several periods; the latest was during the Republic of China in the 20th century (Britannica Concise Encyclodedia, 2006). The city is divided into 13th districts, 8 city districts and 5 suburb districts. Nanjing has 8 million inhabitants.
Jiagang Cun
Jiagang Cun is situated in the south parts of Nanjing in Qinhuai District, one of the city districts of Nanjing. The village is situated at the boarders of the Colonel Field Airport. The airport is still in use, but will soon be closed. Right now it’s only used by the military, the commercial air traffic is now located to the Nanjing Lukou Airport. From Jiagang Cun to the Nanjing’s centre its 6 km and to Nanjiing South Railway station it is 2 km. Jiagang Cun is an old rural village that has become encircled by Nanjing and is now an urban village with an estimated population of 3000 inhabitants.
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Source of map: The map is based on arial photos from: http://map.baidu.com/
Introduction
An alley in Jiagang Cun It is a common problem in many cities around the world that urban agriculture is
not seen as something suitable for the city, this view is common among planners and other officials. Instead of seeing the possibilities and the environmental impact it can have on cities, it is often considered as a problem and unaesthetic, not something that is suitable for the cities (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001) (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
Jiagang Cun is an old rural village that now has been encircled by the growing Nanjing. The village stands in front of a renewal project where the official plan is to demolish and replace the village and create a commercial area. The village occupies 18, 4 ha and out of these 2.3 ha is farmland. This production of crops provides many villagers with food and an important source of income. In the comprehensive plan over the area there is no plan to keep the village or the farmland or the people living there today. The comprehensive plan refers the area Jiagang Cun is situated in “as the black hole of Nanjing” (Nanjing City Master Plan 2007-2030, 2011). There is no consideration taken to the village or the urban agriculture that is conducted there. As the future plan is to develop a commercial area on the location of Jiagang Cun there is no option for the villagers to stay in the area. This may cause problems and suffering for the villagers, and destroy the social networks and relations that is existing in the village today. When the villagers gets relocated many will have to commute for a long time to go to their work, as the new areas are placed far out on the urban fringe not unusually with a low level of services and public transport according to Campanella (2008).
There has been many studies done on which impacts relocation from homes and demolishing of homes can have (Porteous, 2001) and it is common that people get a feeling of loss when they become relocated. Being an urban village, Jiagang Cun has an insufficient infrastructure in many cases, for example; there is only two toilets in the whole village, garbage is spread out and dumped everywhere and there is no system for treating surface water from the streets and alleys. As many urban villages Jiagang Cun lacks public space and within the village there is no park or square. There is no area where the villagers can sell their crops.
Problem statement
In Jiagang Cun today there is 7 ha of land that right now is not in use. These areas can be developed, both for urban agriculture purposes as well as for commercial use and residential purposes. Jiagang Cun could become an urban village that is integrated in Nanjing, where the villagers can keep working with urban agriculture and stay in Jiagang Cun. By keeping the village and the urban agriculture and improve the living conditions in the village, increase the public spaces and create a market place where the villagers can sell their crops, Jiagang Cun could become a more social sustainable village where the living conditions is improved.
Possibilities
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Introduction
Aim
The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the application of theories of urban agriculture and urban villages in a local community by ways of an urban design proposal.
Delimitation
Urban villages and urban agriculture can be studied in many aspects, in this thesis the delimitation is to introduce the topics and to show how the theories of them can be implemented in a design proposal. The proposed techniques for both urban agriculture and infrastructure will not be technically described, just presented. The result could be applied to other areas and urban villages in China, though in this thesis they are delimited to Jiagang Cun.
Research Question
What would the villagers in Jiagang Cun gain in terms of their social situation by an alternative plan based on the current situation in the village vs. proposed plans and functions over the area made by Nanjing Planning Bureau?
Source: http://map.baidu.com/?word=nanjing&ft=tab
The arial photo shows Jiagang Cun and the red line shows the border of the study area.
to the opportunities and possibilities people have in their everyday life and the sense of belonging to something. It can be described as how people connect and interact with others, the feeling of being a part of the neighbourhood, possibilities to participate in civic and collective activities within their neighbourhoods, how safe they consider their neighbourhood to be, the feeling of social cohesion, and how people is either included or excluded in the society. Other issues that affects the level of social sustainability is the accessibility to facilities and amenities, the size of the living space and the quality of the environment and infrastructure. All this affects the quality of life and the level of social sustainability. It is important to mention that social sustainability is easy to destroy but hard to create (Dave, 2011).
One assumption in this thesis is that Nanjing’s government and planners neglect the urban farming in the planning process and regard it as an inappropriate land-use in the city. It is common that agriculture within the cities often is neglected in the development of cities in developing countries, as China. In the creation of the “modernized” city, built on western ideals, people would work and buy food with their salary, not grow it themselves. The urban activities and the rural activities were separated. People should relay on the market instead of being self-sufficient (Castillo, 2003).
The theories in this thesis are that urban villages and urban agriculture offer the urban poor in the Chinese cities possibilities to improve their situation. The urban villages fill an important role in the urbanisation process as transitional neighbourhoods and acts as a springboard for many migrants that seek a life in the city and that they create special economic pattern and social norms and networks that are not seen outside the villages (Yuting Liu, 2010). The urban villages can have the same character as rural villages but they offer the people living in them an urban life (Wei Yaping, 2009) “The urban village provides an interim space where modern urban identity and traditional rural identity coexist”
(Yuting Liu, 2010, s. 140).
Urban agriculture can have many impacts on the urban population, all from securing the daily need of food for the poor population to improve the ecological environment in the cities. Urban agriculture can be a possible source of income and a solution to lift people out of poverty. It can create integration between different groups in the society and improve the living conditions (Mougeot L.
J., 2006).
Social sustainability relates to many areas of our physically and mentally environment, and connects to both ecologic sustainability and economic sustainability. The definitions of what social sustainability is, are many (Dave, 2011), but for this thesis the definition made by Polese and Stern is used:
“Development (and/or growth) that is compatible with the harmonious evolution of civil society, fostering an environment conducive to the compatible cohabitation of culturally and socially diverse groups while at the same time encouraging social integration, with improvements in the quality of life for all segments of the population.” (Colantonio)
The chosen definition of social sustainability for this work is made because it refers to the built and planned environment (Colantonio). Social sustainability relates
Theory
Method
To do this a thematic literature review has been done on the topics of urban villages in China and urban agriculture. A case study is made of the urban village of Jiagang Cun that is situated in the south of Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
The design proposal will be based on my own experiences of Jiagang Cun, and how the existing urban agriculture could be developed.
To tell the stories about the person that lives in the urban villages in China today several empirical interviews has been conducted in four urban villages in Nanjing. The interviews from Jiagang Cun will be used as well for background information about the village.
Theory & Method
BACKGROUND
Urbanization in China since the 1950s
Background
In the beginning of the 1950s the Chinese government tried to relocate urban dwellers to the countryside, to improve the conditions in the cities. Though the dwellers could choose to move back, many did so and the cities became little affected and continued to grow (Campanella, 2008). Later during the same decade the Chinese government decided that the cities should produce more instead of just being consumers. The government began to build factories in and around the cities, without regarding what was in the surroundings, with the result that the market oriented way of rating the value of urban land was set out of rule (Campanella, 2008). Communities were built around the factories to provide the workers with everything from housing, to entertainment, education, healthcare etc. This live-work commune model came to be known as “Danwei”
and was in many cases built with a structure linking to the historical way of building cities in China and walled in. The Danwei became the model for how Chinese cities was built and rebuilt, and not just for factories, all kind of institutions was built this way, all from universities and hospitals to government bureaus and ministries. In the 1960s 90% of Chinas urban population lived in Danwei (Campanella, 2008).
The Danwei changed the character of the Chinese cities; the cities were now more a collection of villages, with little movement between them. Everything that the workers needed was to be found inside their Danwei. The governments of the cities also had slight control over the development of large scale Danwei.
During the “Great Leap Forward” the Chinese cities grow both in number and population and when it ended 1960 almost 20% of the Chinese population lived in cities (Campanella, 2008).
The houku system
Cities can also give the possibility for people with rural houku to get education and healthcare, though to a higher fee than what the urban houku holders pay, but the local governments can still require businesses to only hire staffs that have the urban houku for that city (Liu, 2005).To get the control over the inflow of people from the rural parts of China to the cities in the beginning of the 1950s the Chinese government introduced an intra-national passport system, with inspiration from Soviet Union, named the
“Houku system” (Campanella, 2008). During the 50s this system came to be developed and in 1958 the system became set as policy. From the beginning the system didn’t have the effect as the government wished for and was developed and the rules became more restrained during the 50s. With the system the Chinese population became divided into two groups the rural population that was given rural houku and the urban population that got urban houku. The houku do not just control where people have the right to live, it also controls the amount of service you are entitled to. The population given rural houku status have not had the same rights to healthcare, education, pensions and subsidised housing for example (Liu, 2005). These disadvantages between the rural and urban population can in some extend explain the enormous attraction the cities have in China. To move from one place to another had to be approved by the state, even inside the same city and to move from the countryside to a city don’t give you the right to an urban houku status. During the 1960s and 1970s the only ways to move from the rural areas and to change the houku were if the person were hired to work in a factory, were accepted to higher education or had a very special talent (Liu, 2005). Since 1980s the houku regulations have been lucent up and it is now easier to move between the countryside and the urban areas.
Changes in the Hukou system made it easier for the rural population to move and today it’s counted that as much as 10 % of the Chinese population lives in the cities, but with a rural Hukou citizenship (Campanella, 2008) (Yan Song, 2012).The Chinese government have given the local governments the possibility to state two special residential registrations, one that is a temporary residential permit and the blue stamp houku, known as the blue card. The temporary residential permit can be given to anyone that is working in the city, and the blue card can be given to professionals, buyers of property and investors. To get the blue card the people often have to pay a fee that differs depending on the attraction of the city. There is also an option to buy an urban houku directly.
Background
Following decades the rate of urbanisation in China went down to almost nothing, due to political reforms and the number of urban residents sank. The rate of urbanisation in China continued to be low until the economic reforms was introduced after 1978 when several economic reforms was implemented by the Chinese Government with the formerly prime minister Deng Xiaoping in the leading role. China opened up for a market oriented economy, foreign investments, and abandoned the system of rural collectives in favour for the more market oriented system known as the “Household Responsibility System”
(Campanella, 2008). With the economic reforms China also changed the housing policies, until this time it had been the government that had provided the urban dwellers with housing but now it was the market that would provide housing. By offering the workers loans and subsidies they were now supposed to buy their homes. With the economic reforms and the introduction of the real estate market the industries started to move out from the cities, because of the increasing land value, many state owned enterprises that was not economic profitable was shut down. The industries that moved to cheaper locations seldom moved more than just the factory or work unit. In many cases the workers had to live in one part of the city and work in another one. The industries were followed by developers that saw the possibility to develop land for housing and workplaces in the outskirts of the cities, where the prices to lease and develop the land were much, and still are much lower than in the city centres. In some cases the cost for developing an area on the urban fringe is one tenth of what the cost would be in the centre.
It’s is also easier to move and compensate the farmers compared to city dwellers.
The urban sprawl and suburbanisation in China is caused by the attractiveness of the city centres instead of as in USA where the urban sprawl was a reaction on crime rates and a stigmatized picture of the city (Campanella, 2008).
Though the Chinese cities are sprawling it’s partly not the sprawl we’ve seen in USA or Europe, instead of the classical villa suburbs with single family housing and low density areas, the sprawl in China is mostly characterized by mid- or high-rise apartment blocks placed in gated communities, with a high density (Campanella, 2008). But there are many similarities as well, on the outskirts of many Chinese cities big retail stores, shopping malls, motels and drive-through
restaurants have been established, all a sign on how China rapidly is changing to become a car nation (Campanella, 2008). Within the suburbs some live an affluent life, in luxuries apartment blocks or villa areas, meanwhile the neighbouring area can be a residential area for replaced city dwellers workers or even migrant workers. There is a social mix within the suburbs, but different social groups live in different areas. This is something that can be seen in many cities in China today, the two worlds that co-exist next to each other, the polished and shiny world of luxury and the one that is poor and hard. The differences in the Chinese society between the rich and the poor are increasing. The vast urbanisation in China has made the country build more than 6.5 billion m2 residential buildings between the years of 1981 and 2001, and since 1992, 46 cities has become million cities, many with a population more than a million. A lot of the new city dwellers are migrants from the rural parts of the country that, in their search for a better life and opportunities, have moved in to cities. Cities economic development has been much more rapid than the economic development in the countryside. In 25 years more than 200 million migrants have moved to the cities. A big amount of them are not found in the statistics. Many of them are not seen as urban residents and are referred to as the floating population (Campanella, 2008).
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Background
Chinese cities are at the same time facing big problems with bad air quality, traffic congestion, many construction sites and extremely expensive housing and crime rates that are increasing. Those who choose to move out to more suburban areas get more green areas and better air quality, but at the same time the suburban areas is lacking cultural, educative services and many areas is badly connected with public transport. Many of them that that move out to the suburbs have to commute back and forth to their work and poor public transport has led to a steady increasing numbers of cars within the cities (Campanella, 2008).
The suburbanisation in China has not had an bad impact on the cities themselves, in fact both the cities and the suburbs in China are developing at the same time and in a vast speed, the city centres gets transformed and flourish and the cities them self are the winners, economically. The suburban areas remains as just suburban, it is still the city that controls everything and holds the position as the powerful core of the metropolitan areas, the suburbs have become the middle land in-between the city and the rural surroundings. This middle land or areas in-between the urban areas and the rural areas didn’t exist before in China (Campanella, 2008).
The administrative boundaries of the Chinese cities are often drawn far from the cities themselves, including big areas of farmland within the administrative control of the cities. Even if all land is owned by the Chinese government in China, the local municipalities in China control manage and are in charge of the land inside the administrative boundaries of them, giving the cities the right to develop the land, sign the lease and development rights with private contractors.
The income from land transactions have become a very important source of income to the local governments. In the aim to earn as much money as possible, corruption among municipalities and rural village heads, has not been unusual.
China has seen three waves of so called “enclosure movements” during the years, the first during the 1980’s, the second around 1992 and a third one during 2003. These movements led to 40 million farmers lost their land. Every year approximately 2 million farmers lose their farmland in the urbanisation process in China (Yuting Liu, 2010). The compensation they are given is based on how
Planning in China
big harvest the land gives, not the future economic value (Campanella, 2008).
In China there are more than 700 cities today, a number that has rapidly increased since the late 1970s when China had 200 cities. The rate of urbanization in China today is 47% (Central Intelligence Agency, 2012), a number that is far from the 80 % that is the case of USA for example. If, or when China reaches the same rate as USA China will have approximately one billion city dwellers (Campanella, 2008).
China has rapidly been urbanising the past 30 years and that has given several effects. Everywhere in the country, there are construction sites, residential areas, shopping malls, high speed railways, motorways, metro etc. The scale of the construction in China is also enormous, many of the biggest buildings, tallest buildings, longest metro networks, shopping malls and infrastructure projects in the world are right now built or being built in China. The cities are growing for every day, not just the old once, new cities are added on the map of China. The planning and building process is very fast. In Shenzhen workers were competing how fast they could finish one floor of a building and the record was made in two and a half day (Campanella, 2008).
By using modernistic land use planning, zoning big areas into one function and use big plot structures the local governments just need to pay a small amount for the bigger arterial roads and infrastructure outside the plots and inside the plots the responsibility for the infrastructure is the developers (Monson, 2008).
To give room for the new modern China, little or no respect is shown to the old, no matter if it is an old historical part of the city or a village on the countryside.
Often the projects are developed from a “clean surface”, where no connection to the old structures is existing. In many old areas there was a mixed use land use, residential, shopping, and small industries and businesses mixed together, and they are often replaced by single function neighbourhoods, residential, shopping, industry or offices.
The renewal projects seen in Chinese cities have similarities with the renewal projects conducted in many cities in the west during the 1950s and 60s (Abramson, 2006), where the “modernized” cities were built. China is rebuilding the country for the future, a future that not will hold much of the old. In the new China everything is shining and inhabited by the middleclass (Campanella, 2008).
The first photo shows the village of Dingjiacun situated in the east outskirts of Nanjing. Here the village is still a rural village, with farmland and a small scale structure. In the second photo Djingjiacun as been demolished to make room for the sprawling city.
Source: http://maps.yahoo.com/#q=Nanjing%2C+Jiangsu
%2C+China&conf=1&start=1&lat=32.04689700515543&l on=118.92506003379822&zoom=17&mvt=s&trf=0
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Source: http://maps.google.com
Background
LITERATURE REVIEW
to build their houses in this land and us it for agricultural purposes. When the local governments need to expand the cities they have to compensate the rural committees for the land they will use. To make the requisition of land smoother and faster it’s common that the local governments only request the farmland for urban use. Left is the residential parts of the rural villages, with its residents left without any land to farm (Wei Yaping, 2009) (Yan Song, 2012). The villagers still have the property right for their homes. Without any farmland the villagers have to use what they have and many saw a potential to rent out their homes or parts of them to migrants that searched for low cost housing (Yuting Liu, 2010).
The opening up of China towards the rest of the world by the economic reforms that were implemented in the end of the 70s and the de-collectivisation of the agricultural industry at the same time, led to a massive migration movement, peasants that used to work in the agricultural industry became unemployed at the same time as new job opportunities were created in the cities. In the cities they had a hard time finding affordable housing, they were excluded from those few public housing projects that were built by the local governments because of their hukou status. The local governments have been and still are very intolerant when it comes to informal settlements. They don’t regard the problem that migrants often can’t afford to buy their housing on the private market (Pu Hao, 2011) (Siqi Zheng, 2009).
The economic development has in many developing countries led to a big increase of slum areas or squatters in cities, but in China this is not the case due to institutional constraints. Instead the demand for low cost housing has in many Chinese cities been met by urban villages (Pu Hao, 2011). Urban villages in China or as they are called in Chinese ”Chengzhongcun” (Chengzhongcun literally means village encircled by city) are a result of a vast urbanisation and the demand for low cost housing for migrants in many cities (Pu Hao, 2011) (Yuting Liu, 2010).
The growing cities in China are growing out in the peri-urban and rural surroundings and mostly on farmland. The local governments usually claim farmland but not the housing areas of the villages on the urban fringe, this to save time and money (Pu Hao, 2011). In China there are two main land-owning systems, State owned land where all the land is owned and controlled by the state and collectively owned land. To build or use state owned land, land-use rights and a land leasing contract have to be paid for. The collectively owned land is farmland and is owned by rural committees. In collectively owned land the rights to use and build on the land is given to rural committees that are controlled and powered by the farmers in the rural villages. They have the right
Urban Villages
Literature Review
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
The emergence of urban villages was first seen in Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the beginning of the 80s and have since then been a phenomena spreading to cities in China, mostly in cities that has gone thru a big expansion or has faced a massive inflow of migrants (Pu Hao, 2011) (Siqi Zheng, 2009).
The creation of urban villages can be explained in three or four steps. First there have to be landless peasants that have the right through collective ownership of land for housing. They are the only ones in China that have that right. In this land they can develop housing projects with a very low cost. Second when the local government request the farmland the houses and residential parts of the villages are left. These villages are not included in the local governments urban administration and are instead controlled by the village collective. This creates loopholes for the villagers to build and redevelop their houses. The villagers
have the right to rebuild and renovate their homes and this has been used to redevelop their homes for renting out to migrants. The third step is that when the local governments acquire farmland for the growth of the cities the villagers are compensated economically. This compensation can then be used for developing their houses for the housing market. Combined with restricted jurisdiction from the government makes the local governments weak when it comes to regulating the housing markets in these urban villages, the possibilities for the villagers is big. The fourth step is that migrant workers have a low income which forces them to seek low costing accommodation, without a local hukou they have no opportunity to get an apartment or room in a public housing project, if there is any built (Yan Song, 2012) (Pu Hao, 2011). Migrant workers can be provided with housing by the companies they work for or in rare cases by the local governments but they normally rely on the urban villages as providers for low cost housing for migrants (Siqi Zheng, 2009). The urban villages are owned and controlled by Joint-stock organisation that is owned by the indigenous villagers.
This organisation takes care of infrastructure and housing management (Yuting Liu, 2010).
Source: http://www.geo.msu.edu/grad_research/urbaneconomic.html
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This is an urban village in the Pearl River Delta region. The image clearly shows the different character between the planned surroundings and the urban village, and how the urban village is encircled by the city.
The photo down to the right illustrates how the street environment in an urban village can be, with tall buildings and narrow streets.
The structure of urban villages
village transform to be an urban village, the authors assumption is that a rural village becomes an urban village when the village farmland is not under the ownership of the villagers any longer and the village is situated in an urban or peri-urban landscape. The village also have to be inhabited by migrants renting accommodation of the villagers.Literature Review
Urban villages can have all from 2 to 8 floors and the houses are often placed very densely.
The spatial structure and character of the urban villages in China are different depending on where in the cities they are situated. Generally urban villages that are situated in the centre of cities have a taller building structure and a higher density compared with urban villages that are situated in peri-urban locations. It is also a higher amount of migrants in the centrally located urban villages. In inner city urban villages the population density is normally around 6000 persons/km2 and in peri-urban villages 5000 persons/km2. Urban villages generally consist of buildings with between 2-8 floors, densely placed, with narrow streets in between (Yuting Liu, 2010). The apartments inside the buildings are often small and populated with many tenants. To earn as much as possible the villagers often add floors, and tries to optimise the amount of tenants in each apartment (Siqi Zheng, 2009). The buildings are often built face-to face with little space between them. It is common that the inner streets have a lot of shops and other establishments. In good locations the bottom floor is often used for commercial activities. According to Yunting Liu, Shenjing He, Fulong Wu and Chris Webster there are several similarities in the Chinese urban villages and the concept of urban villages in the west such as self- containment, fixed neighbourhood interaction, accessibility and pedestrian friendly (Yuting Liu, 2010). The buildings have a low quality and often with bad ventilation and lightning. The quality depends on the economic status of the villagers and the village location.
In peri- urban located urban villages buildings taller than 4 floors is often regarded as illegal constructions by local governments (Yuting Liu, 2010).
Even if some urban villages still have some farmland the majority of land is now used for residential purposes in most of them (Yuting Liu, 2010).
The author have not found any clear definition in the literature when a rural
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Problems with urban villages
When rural villages become surrounded by the cities and the farmland is gone the villagers find themselves in a situation where they have lost their normal life. Many of them are not ready for the change, while many of
them have a low level of education and skills and their normal social networks dramatically changes. It’s not uncommon that they are not protected by any social security system. Many of the villagers have worked with agriculture in their whole lives and now they have to find a new way to make a living. The compensation and support from the government to these people is in many cases lacking. To make a living in the urban villages the renting market for migrant workers has become the main income source for landless peasants, as Yunting Liu writes: “The livelihood of villagers has changed from “growing grain”
to “growing houses”” (Yuting Liu, 2010, s. 137). The urban villages are in many cities the major settlements for migrants and local landless peasants. These two groups have the highest grade of poverty in the Chinese cities today (Pu Hao, 2011).
The standard in urban villages is often poor, as mentioned above the ventilation and lighting are poor as well as sewage, garbage collection and the level of safety and there is a big lack of public places. Often garbage and waste water are thrown
Source: http://skyscraper.talkwhat.com/viewQ- gAEmNzRyiCoqYezRy.html
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Source: http://skyscraper.talkwhat.com/view/QgAEmNzRyiCoqYezRy.html Source: http://skyscraper.talkwhat.com/view/
QgAEmNzRyiCoqYezRy.html
out on the streets and unused land (Siqi Zheng, 2009) (Pu Hao, 2011) (Yan Song, 2012) (Yuting Liu, 2010). The urban villages have inadequate infrastructure because of their insecure future. The villagers are not willing to upgrade the infrastructure, and invest money into it when they don’t know how long the village will exist (Pu Hao, 2011).
Urban villages also have problems with a generally high crime rate and social problems.
They are seen as unstable areas for housing compared with formal residential areas. The migrants often feel excluded from the society, the villagers have an advantage compared with the migrant tenants. Indigenous have special activities, for example social clubs for elderly, and other activities that not necessary is open for others (Pu Hao, 2011). The unhealthy living environment and the social problems that occur in the urban villages has been highlighted by local governments, media and some scholars and has created a negative picture of the urban villages (Yuting Liu, 2010) (Pu Hao, 2011).
To solve the problems that are in the urban villages with bad environment, social problems the solution seen by local governments is often to demolish the urban village and replace them with large scale urban areas with services and facilities, instead of upgrading it. The process to redevelop urban villages is not always easy because of three reasons, first there is a big market for migrant workers that needs housing, second the local governments have insufficient funds to house these or to replace their housing and the third reason is that it can be very costly and take a long time to negotiate with the villagers, then it’s easier and cheaper to not take the fight (Yan Song, 2012). Though, it can be hard, many urban villages undergo redevelopments, one reason can be their attractive location, which
make them desirable for developers. The local governments want to solve the problems that occur in the urban villages and see redevelopment as a chance to get rid of the problems, and a redevelopment makes the status of surrounding areas to rise. By redevelop urban villages the density can become much higher than the current situation. There is also three parts that can have something to gain out of a redevelopment, the local government, the landlords and the developers (Pu Hao, 2011).
This two photos illustrate how the environment can be in urban villages when the buildings are placed very densely and garbage collection is poor.
In this thesis urban agriculture is referred to the definition made by Smit, Nasr and Ratta (2001) that says that urban agriculture is:
“an industry that produces, processes, and markets food, fuel, and other outputs, largely in response to the daily demand of consumers within a town, city, or metropolis, on many types of privately and publicly held land and water bodies found throughout intra-urban and peri-urban areas. Typically urban agriculture applies intensive production methods, frequently using and reusing natural resources and urban wastes, to yield a diverse array of land-, water-, and air- based fauna and flora, contributing to the food security, health, livelihood, and environment of the individual, household, and community.”
Smit, Nasr and Ratta (2001) also write in “Urban Agriculture: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Cities” that the concept of urban agriculture can be seen as all agriculture activities that takes place inside the edges of a metropolitan area.
Urban Agriculture has been existing since humans became urban dwellers.
Traces of urban agriculture have been found in all old civilisations around the world. The purposes of this activity has then as now been to grow different products for the urban market (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
What is Urban Agriculture?
Where does it take place?
Urban agriculture can take many different shapes and be conducted by any person living in an urban area. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) counted to over 40 different farming systems that can be labelled as urban agriculture. It can be all from growing herbs in the kitchen window, in gardens, both Horticulture and Aquaculture, market gardens, production of silkworms and snails to big scale industrial husbandry and livestock (Mougeot L. J., 2006).Urban Agriculture can take place anywhere in the cities: in gardens, vacant plots, roadsides, railways, parks, open fields, parks, ponds, rivers etc.
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Wherever there is space to grow something urban agriculture can take place (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001) (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
Depending on where in the cities the type of agriculture that is practised changes. In the city centres the Urban agriculture often take place in buildings or on their outside, in parks and in vacant plots. The urban agriculture in the vacant plots is often seen as a short term usage in the awaiting for something to be built. In the city centres the crops that are produced often has a high value and is aimed to be sold in the surroundings. Outside the centres there are the corridors between developed areas, the wedges and the periphery and in these areas the urban agriculture also have different characters. In the corridors the
Source: Fredrik Bergqvist
Urban agriculture between railway tracks in Tai Shan Jie Dao, a urban village in Nanjing.
Who are the producers?
In developing countries a large amount of poor people rely on urban agriculture for their daily intake of food, for wealthier families urban agriculture can be a good way to earn an extra income. There is also a large amount of smaller entrepreneurs that have urban agriculture as their business. The workforce in urban agriculture is often part-time and has a low level of education. In developing countries and low income cities, urban agriculture is a big industry that provides a large amount of people with jobs. It is often women that work with urban agriculture, who by undertaking urban agriculture feeds her family and can sell the surplus on the local market. In developing countries it is common that poor rural farmers move to the cities for selling their crops to get a higher income (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001) (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
Urban Agricultures effects on society at large
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The benefits of urban agriculture are many, environmental, social and economical.
Urban agriculture can reduce the impact of the ecological environment in many ways. By having the production of food closer to the market big energy savings can be made by cutting the transportation, refrigerated storage, and the amount of products that gets bad. In the end urban agriculture cuts down emissions and other effects like heat islands (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001) (Leonie J. Pearson, 2011). It can also be a good way to minimize the effects of natural disasters like erosion, landslides and flooding, as well as reducing the effects of pollution in air, ground and water. Urban Agriculture can have a good impact on the cities micro climate, it keeps areas green and reduces the costs for maintenance of this areas. In many cases urban agriculture take place in areas that are waiting for development and would just be left unused (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001) and they create green areas (Mougeot, 2005). The strength of urban agriculture is that it has many advantages being situated in the cities: it’s close to the market, large amount of waste that can be used as fertilizer, water is there and makes the production less dependent on rain. It can also help reducing the throughput of materials in the ecosystems of urban areas. The input to urban areas is often urban agriculture is often taken place along roads and railways and is often seen
as a short term usage of land. It is common with markets and selling of crops and other agricultural products in direct connection with the farming in these areas (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
In wedges urban agriculture is often seen as a solution for longer terms and has often a bigger production of products. Production in the periphery of cities is also often seen as a longer solution for longer terms, with a bigger production.
The distance from the city to the periphery producers are of big importance for the production and income. As cities grow the borders of these defined areas changes, and so do the way that the urban agriculture is practised. There are more urban agriculture activities in the peri- urban areas than in the centre of the cities. The amount of investment and method that is used depends very much on the farmer, who makes the decisions out of the knowledge how long he or she is able to use the land. In areas where the urban agriculture is seen as an activity for a short period of time, or is not permitted by the cities, the investments is low and the production less intensive (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
In many cities goverments urban agriculture is not seen as something suitable for the city and they have no intentions of keeping it. In other cities urban agriculture is seen as a way for keeping the citizens feed and have issued restrictions and recommendations on how it should be practised. In Singapore, Beijing and Havana for example the governments have decided what kind of crops and animals that should be grown and kept where. Asian cities have in many cases found that UA on wedges is an appropriate long term solution, and that this should be supported. This is now coming in more cities around the world. In some European cities the municipals have started to open up parks and other municipal land for farming. In Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro land for Urban Agriculture has been created under electricity poles (Smit, Nasr, &
Ratta, 2001).
raw material and products and the biggest outputs are products and waste. By using urban agriculture both the input and the output can be reduced and even create a cycle. Where food grown by using waste as fertilizer then gets reused as fertilizer again to new crops. There are many different technics to do this, both in big and small scale. This benefit combined with earlier mentioned above helps to create more sustainable cities where less resources needs to be used. In this case waste can be both solid and liquid (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
In fact 75% of everything that is harvested and mined from the earth is shipped to and consumed within the cities, that occupy only 2.5% of the earth surface but contains more than half its human population (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
In areas where the garbage collection is badly organised, there is poor sanitation, the water supply is unsecure and other environmental disadvantages for the health of the people living there which reducing living standards and affects productivity. Throughout the world millions of children die every year because of diseases carried by contaminated water and solid waste in cities. In developing countries traditional large-scale garbage and waste water collection systems are unsuitable due to difficulties matching the speed of the human population and waste that is increasing in the cities. Instead of traditional engineering techniques, urban agriculture can be used. Composting can reduce the amount of organic waste at the same time as it produces bio-fertilizer, water can be reused and waste water filtrated and cleaned by plants. Air pollution and odour can be reduced by trees and flowers. Organic waste can be treated with different composting techniques, for example Vermiculture, where worms create bio- fertilizer of organic waste (Mougeot, 2005).
Poverty is today moving from the rural areas to the urban, which also changes the food chains (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001). The amount of the poor people in urban areas is predicted to grow, and in year 2020 as many as 50% of the globes urban population will be poor (Mougeot L. J., 2006). For this group the biggest expenses are often food and fuel (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001), to have food can be seen as a “basic luxury” (Mougeot L. J., 2006). To deal with the expenses poor people in many countries grow their own food. The savings they do by doing this can then be put into schooling and healthcare. Eventually surpluses from the families production can be sold at markets and give an additional income (Mougeot, 2005). This gives the poor urban dwellers the opportunity to consume products they otherwise wouldn’t afford, and make it possible for urban dwellers to consume more crops (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
Urban agriculture is a big industry employing 200 million people around the world, in less developed countries as many as 80% of the households are involved in it. In Australia 15% of the production of fruits and vegetables comes from urban agriculture (Leonie J. Pearson, 2011). In Cuba urban agriculture provides the country with 60% of the nations consumption of vegetables (Mougeot, 2005). Urban agriculture provides cities with a large economic sector with the different steps of pre-production, production and post-production employing a big amount people. Urban agriculture is closely connected with the local market, instead of the regional or global market. The advantage of being a producer close to the market is that there is no need for a long transportation or storage of the products before they get sold. This cuts down the need of many middlemen that otherwise is common in the chain from producer to consumer in the rural agriculture and makes it easier for the urban farmers to gain a bigger profit on their products.
Studies have shown that urban agriculture can have an impact on areas that have had social problems like high crime rate and vandalism. Areas that has been neglected and degraded have started to flourish again after implementing
Subsistence farming
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urban agriculture and gardens have become meeting places for the people living in neighbourhoods. People have become more interested in participating in the neighbourhood and the feeling of belonging to it has increased (Mougeot L. J., 2005).
What is the problem?
Farmland around and inside cities is often seen as a land reserve for future urban expansion and many planners see these fields as “dysfunctional” (Mougeot, 2005), and as something that belongs to the past. All since the industrialisation took place a separation between agriculture activities and urban has taken place.
In the “modern cities” industry is seen as suitable and rural areas have seen as the only place for agriculture, fields in the city was nothing for the future (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001). Before the industrialisation cities to a very big extent had closed loop systems where waste and by-products was reused, but since the industrialisation and the separation between agriculture and urban activities the closed loop systems have become more and more pipeline systems, where the amount of waste is increasing. There are still countries that have more or less closed loop systems, China is one, but the global trend is a reduction of the closed loop systems (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001). In more developed countries urban agriculture is often seen as something recreational.
Though, after several decades of separating urban and agricultural activities there has now been a change, and more interest and investments are made to develop and create more efficient food production inside urban areas (Smit, Nasr,
& Ratta, 2001). Even so, growing cities are a big threat against Urban Agriculture (C. Aubry, 2012). Another threat and hindrance is local legislations and bye- laws that forbid or makes the urban agriculture illegal. Owners of vacant lots don’t like to see other people using their land for free, and often works against urban agriculture (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
When cities grow the urban agriculture in the cities changes and adapts to the new conditions, but it does not manage to keep the cities fed and they often have to import products from other regions and countries. The effect is more transportation, bigger distances between production and consumption and increasing food- prices for the urban dwellers (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
Another problem is that big operators as municipalities, big retailers often don’t see the value in having small entrepreneurs as suppliers, which closes the door for many urban farmers (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001)
How can Urban Agriculture be integrated into city development?
It is clear that urban agriculture is a part of a cities eco-system, and it is therefore important that urban agriculture is accepted and highlighted. The structures and functions in cities today have to change because of various reasons; resource scarcity, population pressure, climate changes etc. Urban agriculture has an important role to play in the future cities. It is also important to develop the urban agriculture, and to educate people involved in the production, in safe ways to farm (Leonie J. Pearson, 2011). It is time that local governments realise the importance of urban agriculture and the local environment (Mougeot L. J., 2006). Urban agriculture links the environment with the urban structures and plays an important role in the creation of sustainable cities (Mougeot, 2005).
Who are the consumers?
The urban agriculture does not just serve the urban poor in the cities. The consumers of urban agriculture can be anyone, from people of the poor population to the wealthier groups. Having the food production close to the market the urban dwellers can benefit fresher and cheaper products (Smit, Nasr,
& Ratta, 2001). Urban agriculture combined with street vending creates better opportunities for people in sprawling cities to consume fresh and nutritious food (Mougeot L. J., 2005).
To strengthen and create opportunities for urban agriculture planning should be used. In China a lot of cities have been oversized just to be able to have food production close to the city. Urban agriculture should be implemented as a special land use or in combination with others. It is also important to decide the duration for the urban agriculture, if it’s seen as a land-use for a longer or shorter period. By implementing a dynamic planning and see to different types of urban agriculture the outcome can be strengthened (Mougeot, 2005). It is important that planners start to think outside the box and involves other professions, as architects and agronomists etc. There are often more opportunities for urban agriculture to exist in the cities than what planners see, the land is there but they don’t consider urban agriculture as a use of land. The most important is to develop and choose different urban agriculture techniques for different conditions. In areas where the soil is contaminated other products than food can be produced, for example flowers. Even if the planners are working for more urban agriculture it is important that their work is not interfered by legislation and bye-laws (Mougeot L. J., 2006). The people working with urban agriculture often belong to informal groups in the cities, which are vulnerable, and whose interests are neglected by the city government, it can be different reasons;
ethnicity, gender or poverty. The governments have more to gain by supporting these groups than neglecting them. By providing opportunities and knowledge about urban agriculture their possibilities to a better life enhance, and so do the outcome of urban agriculture. These farmers, often poor can become more productive and secure if they create organisations (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
Mougeot (2006) claims in “Growing better Cities Urban Agriculture for sustainable development” that a labelling or zoning of land for urban agriculture as a land use for permanent use is un-realistic and self-defeating. He claims that it does not take the economic aspects and land value increases in consideration, and by labelling land for urban agriculture, the interaction with other urban activities that can and should exist can be lost.
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In the region of Saclay outside Paris, there has been a conflict between the traditional farming industry and new urban settlements. In the effort to combine the already existing agriculture with the new developments several projects were started. Out of the planning project seven basic aesthetic and general guides were formulated:
“Preserve a modern, dynamic image of farming”
“Protect and enhance the region’s heritage”
“Organize road landscaping”
“Integrate new construction into the landscape”
“Develop the presence of water in the landscape”
“Create a network of pathways and green spaces”
“Mould the landscape at each stage of development”
In Rosario, Argentina the municipality was put on test when Argentina went into severe economic crises, suddenly the inhabitants of the city could no longer afford to buy food and unemployment grew to big numbers. So the city started to support urban agriculture and opened up the city’s green areas, combining recreation, education and food production (Mougeot, 2005).
Container gardening
When there is no possibility to grow on the surface container gardening is a good option. The crops are grown in pots, boxes or something that is possible to fill with soil. In areas where there is insecurity about the quality of the soil or if the soil is contaminated container gardening is an option. The boxes are placed on the ground and filled with soil that is of a better quality (Mougeot L. J., 2006).
Farmers market
Farmers market is the oldest places for selling agricultural products around the world, and after a decline they are now on the way back in to the cities. In USA there is now over 6000 farmers market, a number that has tripled during the past 15 years and a lot of small and medium size farmers are today depending on the income from the farmers markets in USA (Cappellano, 2011).
Farmers market can take place in organised marketplaces or take place in small stalls along streets. The farmers market gives the opportunity for farmers to sell their products without involvment of middle hands between the farmers and the consumers and it also cuts the distance that the food has to be transported to reach the customers. The markets strengthen the local economy, and create a social meeting place for the residents in communities (Morven G. McEachern, 2010).
Different types of Urban Agriculture
As mentioned above, there are different scales of urban agriculture and they often take place in different areas. C. Aubury (2012) divides the different types of urban agriculture to three groups; “micro”, “meso” and “macro”. In the micro level is rooftop gardening, backyard farming and farming along street verges.
This is often done in a private or corporate way in or nearby people’s homes. The meso level includes bigger gardens such as community gardens, allotments and urban parks. In this scale the organisation of the farming can be on private level or on public level. In macro scale the urban agriculture is in a big scale and has a direct commercial purpose. It can be animal keeping, orchard, etc. The manage- ment is normally private or by a cooperative.
Community gardens
Community gardens are gardens where individual people can grow their own fruit, vegetables and other crops. They offer space for farming, but also for lei- sure, and by different users from different areas they also have an effect on social interaction between people. Community gardens have in some cases helped re- vitalising low-income areas (Leon H.H. Tan, 2009).
Roof top gardening
Takes place on the roofs of residential and other buildings. It can be conducted by different technics, depending on the construction of the buildings. Where the amount of space for growing crops are limited rooftop gardening is an alterna- tive. The rooftop gardens except providing crops also contribute to better air quality and are a solution to treat rain water (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001).
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“Urban farming makes increasing sense in today’s urbanizing world. It is realistic and necessary practice for the 21th century.
As urban farming gains recognition as an industry with a role to play in the sustainability of cities and the sustenance of their residents, its full potential will become more achievable”
- (Smit, Nasr, & Ratta, 2001 p.31)
“Moving to the cities, we are told not to grow vegetables, not to raise chickens in the community, not to leave things in the corridors, and so on and so forth because these habits may
annoy our neighbors. But it’s not that easy to change.”
- By Liu Yujie
(China Daily 2011-12-18)
VOICES FROM URBAN VILLAGES
IN NANJING
Source of map: The map is based on arial photos from: http://map.baidu.com/
